The Ice by John Kare Raake

The Ice by John Kåre Raake

Translated by Adam King

Summary:

A CRY FOR HELP

Anna Aune is on a scientific expedition to the North Pole, when the pitch black of the polar night is lit up by a distress flare.

A VISION FROM A NIGHTMARE

At a nearby research station Anna discovers a massacre – mutilated bodies strewn about the base. Then, a fierce Arctic storm blows in, cutting off any possibility of escape.

A KILLER LOOSE ON THE ICE
Anna races to find the murderer before they get to her, but she discovers a secret lurks under the ice – one that nations will kill for…

My Review:

If like me you like your thriller as cold as ice then The Ice (Pushkin Vertigo) the debut novel by successful screenwriter John Kåre Raake is perfect as it is set in the North Pole and is the first in a series which stars Special Forces Commando Anna Aune. The good news is that this is being developed into a television series.

Imagine being at the North Pole and a killer is on the loose, so where do you run to hide? The vast wide-open expanse is at the heart of this bone chilling thriller that is perfect for a winters evening. Anna Aune volunteers to accompany 73-year-old professor Daniel Zakariassen, not a trip that Anna wanted to go on but as a Special Forces Commando she is trained for conditions such as the North Pole. But she is still suffering from PTSD and has survived war torn regions but also suffered the loss of her lover. Together with the professor Anna is at the North Pole to study the effects of Climate Change but soon things take a very sinister twist.

They are heading towards the Chinese research station when they see a flare go up but when they arrive it is a scene of mass murder. Suddenly for Anna she is at the heart of a major crime and the killer are still out there. What makes it worse is that the weather is now deteriorating rapidly and trying to stay alive and hunt the killer before the killer finds them.

Anna will now need all her special forces training to keep her and Daniel alive. Whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing, but who and what is exactly at the heart of the killing spree. There are frozen dead bodies everywhere. But Anna discovers one severely injured man, and he could hold clues to what happened and just what was really going on at the Chinese research station and he could hold a clue as to how many are behind the massacre, but she needs to keep him alive.

At the same time as trying to stay alive in the worsening conditions Anna knows that she needs help and tries to locate a working radio to call for urgent assistance.

The Ice is a fast-paced atmospheric thriller that has a real sense of foreboding and not just the building storm. Raake has combined both the North Pole and a mass killer to build an incredible and compelling read with a new heroine at the heart of the storyline.

400 Pages.

Thank you Poppy Stimpson and Pushkin Press for the review copy of The Ice by John Kåre Raake.

The Ice by John Kåre Raake was published by Pushkin Vertigo and was published on 7^th January 2021 and is available to order through Waterstones, Amazon and through your local independent bookshop or through Bookshop.org that supports your local independent bookshop. UK Bookshop.org